The chairman of Qantas, Leigh Clifford, has brushed aside calls for the airline's leadership to step down and argued that the national carrier occupies a special role in the Australian economy, as it seeks to win legal changes and financial backing from the Abbott government.

Clifford was asked about a former Qantas economist calling for the board to stand down following the announcement of its plans to cut 1,000 jobs.

But the chairman batted the question away, flagging that such suggestions were par for the course when running Qantas.

“Lots of people do that. I've got a scrapbook of them,” he said.

His comment came while speaking at the annual dinner of the free-market HR Nicholls Society in Melbourne. His invitation stemmed mostly from his role running the hardline mining giant Rio Tinto, but his tenure at Qantas covered the time of the dramatic decision to ground all flights globally in 2011 to break a bargaining deadlock with aviation unions.

After the speech, Clifford was asked if there was any contradiction in arguing for deregulation of labour markets while Qantas was lobbying for government intervention to support its business.

"I think a purist can say, 'let the market rule'," he said, adding that the airline industry was a 'little different" from others.

"The airline industry globally is different from any other industry … there's limitations on foreign carriers in the United States, and there's a requirement that US airlines, in the event of a crisis, can meet airlift capacity,” he said. “Australia is probably one of the most open markets in the world, if not the most open market for airlines in which to operate. You can be 100% foreign owned but operate domestically in Australia."

Yet during the speech, Clifford commented, "We can't have a separate study for every business that is in strife. We need some principles and we need some flexibility."

He mostly sought to strike a conciliatory note by saying that both major parties, senior bureaucrats and some trade union leaders had a "clear understanding" of the challenges facing Qantas.

He said business was keen for the government to move a "little faster" given signs that the economy was slowing and many businesses were facing challenging times, but it was hard to argue its case more while acknowledging that "executive excesses" had undermined their credibility.